Apparatus for burning bricks



W. W. DICKINSON. 1R.

APPARATUS FOR BURNING BRICKS. I

A 4 PLlcATIoN FILED DEc.1o, 1920 LASUL,

l Patented Jan. l0., 1922.

zsHus SHEU 2.

'W'ILEAIVI ALLACE DICEIIIXTSON, JR., OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS.

APPARATUS FOR BURNING BRCES.

Application led December 10, 1920.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, VILLIAM lw. DICKIN- son, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Little Rock, in the county of Pulaski and State of Arkansas, have invented a certain new and useful improvement in Apparatus for Burning Bricks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to the art of burning bricks and has especial reference to the construction of thekilns wherein such burning is eliected. The objects of theinvention are the provision of a cheap, serviceable and transportable covering or housing for the bricks to be burned which shall serve to retain the heated gases in contact with the bricks during the burning process and afterwards transportable bodily to a succeeding kiln, thus enabling the rapid cooling ane the convenient demolition of the finished kiln; the provision of a new and improved kiln construction; while further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Brick kilns may be divided generally into two classes, the permanent and the temporary; the permanent kiln consists of a massive external shell made of fire brick or other heat resisting material, connected with suitable stacks or other draft producing appliances and adapted to be filled with unburned bricks which are afterwards baked in the same way that bread is baked in an oven. Such a kiln is decidedly economical in the use of fuel, but is expensive to construct and maintain and also to use since the bricks generally have to be handled manually owing to the necessity of introducing and removing them through very small openings or doorways; they are also very slow to use because of the great length of time required for them to cool sui'liciently to enable workmen to enter them, and on account of the heat-the work of filling and emptying them is extremely arduous. The temporary kiln consists of a pile of bricks built in the open, and until recently has been considered much inferior to the permanent kiln in respect of fuel consumption, although by means of the construction described and claimed in'my former patents their fuel consum tion can be made to compare very favorflily with that of the best Specification of Letters Patent.

Pat-ented Jan., it?, i922.

Serial No. 429,610.

permanent kilns. lllhatever be the burning method employed, it has been customary to encase or scove the unburned bricks with a layer of burned bricks, brickbats, or lirebricks laid in and daubed with cla-y, mud, or some kind of plaster suiiicient for temporary purposes and broken down after the completion of the burning so as to enable ready access to the bricks inside. Accord ing to my invention l substitute for this temporary scoving a casing built up of sections of heat resistingmaterial of a coinparatively permanent construction which are moved bodily from place to place as necessary in the progress of the work.

ln the drawings accompanying and forming apart of this application l have illustrated one embodiment of my said invention although without intent to restrict myself to the particular constructions therein shown except as set forth in my claims. F ig. l is a perspective view of a series of kilns embodying my improvements; F ig. 2 is a perspective view of the end kiln of the series; F ig. 3 is a perspective view of a preferred forni of body brick for building said sections; F ig. 4lis a similar view of a preferred form of terminal brick; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a corner section showing the method of construction; and F ig. 6 is a perspective view of a partial body section showing the method of construction.

So far as my invention itselir is concerned it is immaterial whether each kiln is independent of all others or whether they ad` join each other in a row, although the latter is more convenient and economical; and for the most convenient performance of my invention a suitable transporting device is desirable, such as a traveling crane which is best located exactly over the kiln-row. ln tbe embodiment here shown, l, l represent the rails and 2 the trai/'cling frame of such crane, 3 being the carriage and ithe hoisting drum from which depends the cable 5. Beneath this crane is a row of kilns represented generally at A., B, C, D, E of which A is being demolished, B is cooling, C is burning, D is drying and E is being built. rlhe interior of the kilns are laid in any suitable manner, such as that shown in my patents heretofore mentioned. Along each side of the kiln-body a row of spaced bricks 6, 6 are laid on the ground and on them are built the scove panels 7, 7 of my invention. rlhe bodies of these are preferably made of oblong lire-brick 8, 8 having longitudinal ribs 9 on their upper faces and complementary grooves 10 on their lower faces. rilhe lateral margins of these panels are preferably formed of special bricks 11, similar to the bricks 8 in their possession of tongues 9 and grooves 10, but having in addition a corner removed to define a projecting tongue 12. The bricks are laid in fire clay, the joints being broken in the usual manner, and the exterior is also preferably plastered with fire clay as shown at 13. The heat of the first burning sets this clay so as to make the entire panel a rigid permanent structure, especially if a little salt be mixed with the fire clay. The tongues of adjacent panels overlap each other and are separated by some kind of mud which will hold air without becoming hardened with the heat. When the kiln has been burned and the panel cooled sufficiently for handling, fingers or hooks 15 are inserted beneath it and connected by chains 16 with a suitable cradle 17 carried by the cable 5, by which it is transported to a corresponding location on a succeeding kiln, thus scoving the same much more quickly and cheaply than they can be built byhand. Each panel is formed with an aperture 18 which registers with an archway in the kiln, thus providing for firing.

At the ends of the row, or at the ends of each kiln where the same are built separately, similar panels 7a, 7a are employed as shown in Fig. 2, the corners preferably consisting of special elements 20, 2() which are built up as shown in Fig. 5 out of the blocks 11.V These blocks are bonded together by overlapping, a part of the tongue being broken off as shown at 92L to permit this.

VThe corners are preferably applied last,

their tongues overlapping those on the panels at each side.

The length lof the tongues is such as to permit the necessary thermal expansion and contractionk and also to allow for the inevitable variation in size between different kilns. While I do not restrict myself to this, 'l recommend panels seven feet wide with tongues five inches wide. Each panel eX- tends from its foundation to the top of the kiln. While l prefer to have this foundation a low one, l do not restrict myself thereto, especially as it may be desirable with some kinds of fuel or for other reasons to build such foundation sufficiently high to accommodate the fuel apertures and employ these panels only above that point. Also I do not restrict myself to a vertical setting of said'panels, nor to any other details except as specified in my claims.

lf by accident or use any panel becomes broken or disintegrated, anew one is built as at first and upon the first burning bepanels may be transported bodily from kiln to kiln.

2. A scoving for brick kilns constructed of fire bricks each of which has a tongue on one side and a groove at the opposite side and those among the lateral margins being rabbeted sov that they are adapted to overlap similar rabbeting on adjacent panels.

3. A scoving for brick kilns made in panels, each panel formed of a plurality of bricks having intertting tongues and grooves laid in fire-clay and burned into a rigid unitary mass.

4. A scoving for brick kilns madeI in panels, each panel formed of a plurality of bricks having interfitting tongues and grooves laid in fire clay and burned into a rigid unitary mass the terminal bricks at each side being rabbeted to overlap the adjacent scoving-member.,

5. A scoving for brick kilns comprising rectangular panels of heat resistant brick laid in ceramic mortar and burned together, the margins of each panel beingrabbeted to match the adjacent scoving-members, in combination with corner pieces having rectangularly projecting portions which are rabbetted to match the adjacent panels.

6. The process of scoving brick kilns which contains the steps of building a casing of heat resistant blocks arranged in panels, the margins of each panel overlapping the adjacent panels, the blocks of each panel being laid in ceramic mortar, whereby the same will become rigidly fused together upon the first burning, and subsequently transporting such panels as a unit from kiln to kiln.

7 The process of burning bricks which contains the steps of building a plurality of kilns in a row, building around the first kiln a scoving of heat resistant bricks laid in ceramic mortar and arranged in rectangular panels, burning each panel into an integral unit simultaneously with burning the first kiln, and afterward transporting said panels bodily to and setting them up around a succeeding kiln.

8. The process of burning bricks which contains the steps of building a kiln with an external scoving ofheat resistant bricks laid in ceramic mortar in the form of panels, and corner pieces, adjacent scoving members being separated by non-ceramic mortar,

isc

burning the scoving together, simultaneously With burning the kiln, building another kiln adjacent to the first kiln, and transporting said panels bodily to said last men- 5 tioned kiln, so as to scove the saine and also enable the removal of the first kiln.

9. A portable scoving for brick kilns consisting` of rigid panels made of a single layer of heat resistant bricks laid in ceramic mortar in the form of rectangular overlapping panels.

In testimony whereof, l hereunto iny si gnature.

WILLIAM WALLACE DlCKlNSN, Jr. 

